The Globe

For the first time ever, we are going to make our very own globe.  I predict it will be a useful tool to illustrate the world God made for us as we learn about creation.  As we talk about different aspects of creation, we will add to the globe.
Here it is in its beginning phase:

Fingerpainting

We fingerpainted for the first time in Bunny class.  Not everyone was excited about getting paint on their hands, but these girls had no reservations about it.

One of them said, "Look, Mrs. O'Connor!  It looks like red nail polish!"  Indeed it did, and then all three of them proceeded to "polish" their nails by rubbing red paint on each fingernail one by one.  They were so delighted, and it was reallllly cute!

Introducing Games

We have jumped right in with introducing the children to playing games.  In Bunny class, our games have no winner and no loser.  We just play to a natural end.  The game pictured above is called Honey Bee Tree.  The tree is filled with leaves on long stems and tiny bees.  As the children take turns to carefully pull out the leaves, the bees begin to fall out of the tree.  When all the bees are out, the game is over and we start again.  The purpose of games at this age and stage of development is simply to understand turn taking in order, one at a time.  Once that skill is mastered (and it will take a while!), we can move on to some rules of play.

Play games at home!  It's fun and good for the brain.

Light Science Experiment

We did a neat science experiment to explore the properties of light. 

Each Bunny got a sheet of photo sensitive paper and could put four objects on it.  We took them outside and placed them in the bright sum for about 5 minutes.  When we brought them in, they looked like the photo below.  Each item had left a shadow and the surrounding paper was very pale blue.

Each child removed the objects and immersed the paper in water to develop it.

In the following few minutes, the paper turned dark blue and the places where the objects had been stayed light.

Exactly how and why the paper changed was a bit beyond their understanding, but the main point was that God gave us light and light can change things in our world.  Everybody could clearly see change happening on their paper.  Science can be very exciting at the preschool level!

Off to a Good Start!

Our first two days of Bunny Rabbit class are off to a good start.  The children had plenty of things to do in the room to help them begin to make new friendships or renew some old ones.

We had a Back-to-School party set up in our dramatic play area.  There were party hats, party dishes, an ice cream play set and a cake play set.

There was even a teeny tiny present.  The Bunnies were enthused to guess what was inside it and giggled when they realized the box was empty.  A joke!
Having simple props that represent real activities provide a way to get kids talking to each other.

Meanwhile in other parts of the room, there were simple activities that every child could be successful in attempting.

Just look at those little fingers working so hard!

Playdough is a crowd pleaser and we will have it out almost every day of the entire year.

Please check back here often to see the wonderful learning that goes on in the Bunny Rabbit class.